48 held over copper theft from Mexican billionaire's company

MEXICO CITY: Mexican authorities said Wednesday they had detained 48 people working for businesses suspected of stealing copper cables from Telmex, the company owned by Carlos Slim, the world's richest man.

Security officials detained the suspects in two operations in the central state of Puebla, the attorney general's office said in a statement.

A lawyer for Telmex had accused them of working for companies which dealt with copper extracted from cables stolen from Mexico's main telephone company,it said.

The "constant theft caused interruptions in telephone services in different municipalities of the state," it said.

Authorities also confiscated around 2.5 metric tons of copper cables, bullet cartridges and vehicles in the operations.